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Contract Agreement at BGSU

The AAUP is pleased to announce that the Bowling Green State University Faculty Association and the BGSU administration have tentatively agreed to a contract, nearly two years after the union was formed. Faculty will vote on the contract in early April.

AAUP president Rudy Fichtenbaum said of the agreement, "It has been a long and hard fought struggle, first to win recognition, then to insure the defeat of SB 5, which would have overturned the results of the election and finally to negotiate a first contract. On behalf of the members and the staff of the AAUP, I wish to congratulate the BGSU-FA on reaching a tentative agreement for their first contract."

Copied below is the press release from BGSU-FA:

The BGSU-FA and the BGSU administration tentatively agreed to a contract on Saturday, March 15. Coming after over 20 hours of intensive bargaining in the previous day-and-a-half, and over two years of negotiations, the proposed contract will now be compiled for both sides to ratify. Details will be released within approximately a week, and faculty will vote on the contract in early April.

This proposed contract was the result of literally thousands of hours of work. The BGSU-FA Negotiating Team deserves special thanks and congratulations: Candace Archer (Chief Negotiator), James Evans, Alberto Gonzalez, Christina Guenther, and Joel O’Dorisio. The administration bargaining team consisted of Pat Pauken (Chief Negotiator), Bill Balzer, Julie Barnes, Gary Lee, and Bill Mathis. Provost Rodney Rogers’s engagement at the end of the process was particularly constructive.

Rob Stein’s patient work as independent fact-finder and mediator was crucial to getting the two parties to an agreement.

At the direction of the BGSU-FA attorney, neither the proposed contract, nor even its central principles, can be released until all the details are verified. The proposed contract is a complex document that still must be compiled, fully vetted, and verified by both sides.

The proposed contract’s language reflects that it is a first contract (for example, with retroactive raises), but also contains sections that one would expect in the contract of a mature union/administration relationship. These contract covers:

retroactive raises for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 (which applies to The BG 100)

raises for 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016

increased job security for NTTF

governance

promotion and tenure

a grievance policy with independent arbitration

academic freedom

intellectual property

retrenchment

spousal/partner hire policy

and more

We hope to be able to release a summary of the proposed contract to BGSU-FA members on March 22, and the entire text of the proposed contract to BGSU-FA members on March 29. This schedule is still subject to change, as the compiling and vetting of a contract, especially a first one, by both sides is a painstaking process. The BGSU-FA and the administration are working both quickly and diligently to complete this time-consuming task.

BGSU-FA members will be voting on the contract in early April. In the coming days, the BGSU-FA will be arranging the logistics for that ballot. More information will be forthcoming when the details have been worked out.

Remember: only BGSU-FA members may vote on the contract. If you are not currently a member, you must join the BGSU-FA before April 1. To join or renew your membership, go to http://aaup.org/membership/join. If you have questions about your membership status, please contact the BGSU-FA at bgsufacultyassociation@gmail.com.

This contract resulted not only from the hard work of the bargaining team. It also came about because of the time, work, and energy of all the BGSU-FA volunteers who canvassed, who came to events, who distributed flyers, who made signs, who talked to colleagues in the hall, who joined, who wrote letters, who organized, who marched, and who buoyed the spirits of colleagues. The BGSU-FA also received invaluable support from the AAUP and the Ohio Conference of AAUP chapters.

This is a propitious moment for BGSU, setting a precedent for faculty and administrators to work together to provide a great education for our students.

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